Send him down: In Praise of the Prison Option

I realise that there must be arguments against this that I don't know about. This is because I'm a foreigner. Foreigners never know what's going on in Thailand. Even when we think we know, we really don't. In fact, the surer we are that we know the score, the deeper is our ignorance. Why? Because this is Thailand. Thailand is like a murky stew. There will always be ingredients simmering beneath the surface that foreigners will never know about. It's a good thing, too, because ignorance is bliss.

We do know that Thaksin is facing other charges that might be brought against him. But with all the lawyers and spin doctors he has mustered, surely he could manage to work out a deal. For him, the best deal would be for all pending charges against him to be dropped if he agrees to serve his prison term. Whether this would be legally possible is for the lawyers to figure out.

Assuming that this and other obstacles can be overcome, how would Thaksin benefit by turning himself in and serving his time?

Very simple. It would enable him to paint himself as the saviour of the nation. He is the main obstacle to reconciliation between the warring camps. His capitulation would break the logjam of political gridlock, if I may mix my metaphors, and enable the government to get on with the business of running the country. 

Indeed, if Thaksin were to do this, his spin doctors would go wild singing his praises. I can already hear the laudatory hosannas gushing forth from their spin-mills to inundate the planet:

"Former Thai prime minister and persecuted political refugee Thaksin Shinawatra today demonstrated his selfless love for the Thai people by surrendering to the Thai authorities.

"'I am innocent of all charges,' Thaksin proclaimed as he was led away in chains. 'But to restore political harmony to my beloved motherland, I willingly sacrifice myself for the benefit of all Thai people. I not only accept, I boldly embrace the cruel and unjust sentence that the authorities have inflicted upon me. I do this as a free love-offering to the Thai people. Just as Jesus Christ sacrificed his life to redeem sinful humanity, so do I now sacrifice my freedom to redeem the nation from the strife and conflict which, through no fault of mine, have convulsed it for so long.'"

There might even be a few brain-dead people who would buy that.

It would be a huge public relations triumph for Thaksin. The international news media would immediately stop comparing him to Silvio Berlusconi, Huey Long and Al Capone. They would lionise him as a hero and a martyr. In one cathartic moment he would vault in public esteem to the elevated status enjoyed by Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sri Aurobindo, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. 

All of these great icons of the modern world became canonised in the public mind by going to prison for their beliefs. Jail time gave them an immense boost in moral stature. Simply by surrendering to the authorities, Thaksin can easily join their ranks. Once enthroned in that august pantheon, it will be hard to get him out. His immortality will be guaranteed. At least, his spin doctors will make it look that way.

Doing time in prison can transform a person's reputation, and sometimes even his character. Look at Mandela: He entered prison as a rabble-rouser and an insurrectionist. He emerged 27 years later as a saint. The same thing happened to Aurobindo. Transformed in prison, he abandoned political activity, turned to religion, wrote books of transparent luminosity on spiritual striving, and founded an ashram and a religious movement that endure even today. Gandhi and King read books in prison, prayed, meditated and thought deeply. They wrote letters and manifestos from prison that had great influence and continue to inspire reformers in every nation. They emerged stronger and wiser than when they went in.

Thaksin can do the same. Given time to read, reflect and write in prison, he can easily produce a manifesto for political and social reform that will astound the world and confound his foes. The austerities of prison life will discipline his character, soften his bellicosity, temper his vengefulness, mellow his moodiness, smooth out the rough edges of his personality. They might even purify him of that vaunting hubris which is his fatal flaw. (We're all waiting for that.)

Day by day, the public will gradually forget his reputation as an arrogant autocrat and power-mad greedhound. Honed and refined by the vicissitudes of prison life, he will emerge, like Mandela, as the very embodiment of virtue.

For all these reasons, if Thaksin wants to go down as one of the greatest figures in Thai history, he should give himself up, submit to martyrdom, and serve his time. Greater men than he have found redemption in prison. "Saint Thaksin" would make a wonderful title, but it has to be earned.

You don't earn it by shopping at Harrods.

S Tsow is a humorist and amateur theologian who can be flamed at s.tsow@ymail.com, when he's not in prison.